13.02.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I'm back with quite the action-packed chapter! But first the comments as there is one in particular that I gotta address!:
KamadokuTayna - I assume that you mean the way that I respond to comments and you'd be right in saying that this is quite the unusual thing to do. Alas I am the Absolute Madman and I absolutely love ping-ponging ideas with my readers as well as answering fic-relevant questions in this form. Yes, I could technically DM everyone but that's be a pain and if a couple of people ask about the same thing it's just easier to address it once for all to read! Hell, some of you might not even ask your questions and still have them answered!
SonicMax - So, seeing as I'm quite shit at making apt descriptions, I'd like you you - and anyone else interested in the design of Izuku's armor - to hit up uncle Google and search for one Garran Crowe of the Grey Knights space marine chapter. That's basically it, though it is of course a lot smaller to fit Izuku quite snuggly and doesn't have the helmet or the Imperium-related sigils.
And with that done, enjoy the chapter!:
It was a widely known - and not at all sexist! - fact that women took longer than men to get ready for pretty much anything most of the time. Because of the distraction that was Izuku releasing some righteous upon the purple pervert and his speech however, the two groups ended up meeting in the tunnel that led from the changing rooms to the Ground Beta proper and Izuku's mental fortitude was immediately challenged by the sight in front of him.
There was Asui, Ashido and Uraraka who all had very tight costumes that hugged their impressive figures almost like a second skin. There was also Yaoyorozu whose costume barely covered her modesty and left a lot of skin exposed. The worst of them all however had to be Hagakure because right after seeing a pair of floating gloves Izuku immediately separated himself from the mortal plane just to stop his mind from conjuring up possible explanations as to what exactly his eyes were seeing. Thankfully Jirou had offered some much needed reprieve in the form of a much more loose costume that looked really cool in Izuku's opinion. He couldn't of course compare it with the other girls as he refused to direct his eyes towards them.
"If all it takes to defeat you is to flash a pair of tits in your face then getting out of this lightless void might be easier than I thought. For fuckin' shame kid, was actually starting to enjoy this friendly banter of ours…" The daemon taunted Izuku, dragging all of his attention away from the girls and their questionable sense of fashion and towards the weight on his back.
"'Friendly' is a gross exaggeration." Izuku refuted, his mental fortitude becoming stalwart once again.
"If it wasn't for the fact that I really don't give a fuck I'd have been deeply hurt by your words."
The girl and guys had complimented each other's costumes on the way out of the changing rooms with more than a couple comments flying Izuku's way - to which he'd responded in the most polite way he could without actually taking the risk that was looking back at their costumes.
"They say that clothes maketh the man and dare I say all of you look quite fabulous!" All Might declared in that trademark boisterous voice of his that they all knew and loved. "Now that you look like heroes it is time you start learning how to become actual heroes! Which is why, as I've said earlier, we'll be conducting a team battle trial exercise in order for you to get a grasp on one of the most important parts of being a hero - teamwork!" All Might explained with a grin before pulling out a box from a pocket that - once again - looked too small to fit the aforementioned box. "We will start off by drawing lots which will determine who your teammate for today will be!"
"Sir, is that truly the best way of choosing teams?!" Iida questioned passionately. "Wouldn't it be better to let us decide for ourselves so that we can ensure a synergy between our quirks and fighting styles?!"
"You bring up a valid point Young Iida, but in real life heroes rarely get to decide who they will be working with!" All Might began explaining. "Once you become actual heroes yourselves you'll usually find yourself partnering with pros and sidekicks from other agencies that also decided to respond to the emergency, so the ability to formulate plans on the fly and flexibility in doing so is very important!"
"I see, even though this is just our first week here we are already being prepared for what might happen after we graduate and become heroes ourselves!" Iida voiced his realization as he fixed his glasses into place with his middle finger. "U.A. isn't pulling any punches as expected."
"That's correct Young Iida! You may be only just starting on your path to becoming heroes, but don't expect me or any other member of faculty to go easy on you just because you're new!" All Might stated as he puffed his chest out, towering over the students just an inch higher in the process. "Now, if there are no further questions, how about we get started, you bunch of zygotes?!"
The students were both pumped up and a little worried about what the future at U.A. might hold.
If it wasn't considered heresy then Izuku would be praying to all the gods that he's learned about during his prolonged state in the Fujikuma Monastery. Izuku always thought himself to be quite tolerant and open-minded in the past, but the first week at U.A had him already questioning that belief. As such there were people that he didn't really want to form a team with, but would do just that if he had no other choice - those being Bakugo and Mineta, both for similar albeit different reasons, as well as the girls except for Jirou. Don't get him wrong - he had nothing against any of the girls, but he'd really prefer to keep the battle trial strictly physical instead of having to fight off temptation and sin every time he looked at his teammate.
He sighed in relief when he saw Jirou approach him with her slip of paper in hand.
"I guess we're gonna be teaming up for this one Green." She said as she stopped in front of him, having to look up quite a bit to look him in the eyes. "You probably get that a lot but you're basically a giant."
"I do get that a lot actually." Izuku chuckled as he rubbed his neck bashfully. "I'm not the tallest one in our class though at least." He added.
"But you look completely normal in comparison to the other three." Jirou pushed her point across, but her argument didn't sit that well with Izuku so he decided to let his discontent be known.
"That wasn't a very kind thing to say, wouldn't you agree?" Izuku responded, though there was no anger in his words as he doubted she meant anything bad by that. It won't hurt to make sure though.
"Oh, I didn't mean it like it's a bad thing or anything!" Jirou explained immediately, a small blush creeping onto her face. "It's just that they have other distinguishing features except being tall, but you look just like a normal guy that's really tall and probably buff as hell."
"It's alright. I already thought that you didn't mean your statement to be an insult. Just be mindful of how your words might be received and interpreted by others in the future, okay?"
After the teams were determined All Might went on to explain how the battle trial will look like before choosing the two starting teams and letting them prepare themselves whilst he led the remaining students to one of the nearby buildings which had a hidden spectating room in the basement.
"Now, watch closely how both teams act and what strategies they develop as you may later use those insights to adapt your own plans should you need to do so! Let the first battle commence!" All Might declared vigorously and sirens blared across Ground Beta, signaling the start of the trial.
The battle trials so far went… alright. At least in Izuku's opinion. Despite relying mostly on his strength himself, Izuku was excited to see some elegance and skill from his peers but his hopes were quickly squashed when every encounter basically ended up turning into a straight up brawl.
That heterochromatic guy with an ice quirk - All Might addressed to him as 'Young Todoroki' - freezing the entire building and the team inside was a bit of an overkill, but no one could argue the effectiveness of his tactic. Iida had ended up playing the 'villain' inside the building and as expected got a bit too much into it to the point where he started monologuing once the heroes found him and didn't realize they were going for the bomb without paying any attention to him until it was too late. Yaoyorozu on the other hand has been very… verbal after every trial when All Might asked them for input. She pointed out a lot of shortcomings in most fights but also praised a few of her fellow classmates for their performance, one of those classmates being Bakugo who immediately responded with 'Of course I did great Ponytail! I'm going to be the next Number One Hero!'. His character was totally obnoxious, but Izuku had to say that he was the most skilled fighter he'd seen so far. He displayed raw power, pinpoint precision, an intrinsic combat instinct and creativity that really let his quirk pop, no pun intended.
Izuku watched one trial after the other, conversing with his teammate in the meantime in order to understand her capabilities as he vaguely recalled reading somewhere that if you knew your enemy and knew yourself you'd be able to win a thousand battles. There was no way to know who they'd end up going against, so he chose to focus and learn about his teammate for now.
With every trial and every four students sent out to battle the pool of their potential opponents dwindled and dwindled until only one other team was left. Izuku was not looking forward to this bout.
The people that he's been worrying about the most - Bakugo, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu - already had their turns so he wasn't worried about the potential power disparity. What he had to worry about instead was the synergy that those two could have.
"I'm so pumped for this!" Kirishima exclaimed as he brought his fist together in front of his chest, both hands hardening to make the impact sound out more.
"Let's go Eiji!" Ashido cheered next to her friend.
Izuku stared at the duo, examining the frivolous nature in which they conversed with each other, probably an effect of a long-lasting friendship so it was safe to assume that they knew each other fairly well and would be able to work together seamlessly, covering for each other's weaknesses.
Kirishima's quirk was quite obvious - a simply hardening quirk which allowed him to become much more resistant to physical damage, but could limit his ability to move. He probably had no ranged attacks and prefered to get up close and personal so Izuku could work with that.
Ashido on the other hand was a total enigma. Well, maybe not a total one. Izuku did see her use her quirk during the apprehension test in both the Dash and the Long Distance Run. She seemed to be able to create some sort of substance that she skated on during those two tests so that was probably her quirk and her unusual looks had nothing to do with it. The question that Izuku wished he had the answer to was - what exactly can Ashido do? Can she create something slippery? Or is it rather some form of glue? And most importantly - can she throw it?
Without those answers Izuku wasn't able to properly gauge which one of his opponents was more dangerous, although something told him that Kirishima would stop him from getting to his teammate no matter what, so getting rid of him seemed like a good plan to start with.
"Do you have a plan or something, Green?" Jirou asked as soon as Ashido and Kirishima vanished inside of the building.
They had to switch those almost every exercise as Todoroki couldn't melt the ice that was basically everywhere after his turn and Bakugo ended up blowing up most of the walls in a different building. Still, the buildings changed but the goals remained the same - play for the objective or capture the other team.
"Well, I probably can keep Kirishima busy for an extended period of time, but I'm not sure how long he can keep his quirk up, so I don't know if I'll be able to overpower him. You should be able to find the bomb, right?"
"If one of them decides to stay in the bomb room then yeah, but I can't really hear a fake bomb if it's not beeping or making any other noise." Jirou explained, throwing a wrench into the work but there was nothing they could do about it.
"Ashido seems much more mobile than Kirishima, but I doubt he'd allow his teammate to venture out into the unknown while he stays behind to guard the bomb." Izuku mumbled under his nose.
"So if they are going to split up then Ashido will stay to guard the bomb and Kirishima will come at us to slow our advance?" Jirou summed up in search of confirmation.
"That's the way I see it. Leaving the bomb undefended is not the best idea since your quirk would allow us to outmaneuver them pretty easily and if we were to have a 2v2 fight in the bomb room then they'd have to be extra careful not to lose sight of either of us or we'd be able to touch the objective and win that way." Izuku stated his speculations and Jirou didn't seem to have any arguments against his logic.
"So we have a rough idea of how they'll operate, but how do we turn this around? I may be an excellent scout but I'm not sure if I'll be useful in a fight. Have you seen those noodle arms?" She asked and rolled up one of her sleeves to reveal quite the slender arm with miniscule amounts of muscle on display.
"Whilst that's unfortunate I think we still have a chance. Kirishima will without a doubt come looking for us, so we can gang up on him and try to capture him which would make this a 2v1. Then I'd just distract Ashido while you go for the objective." Izuku revealed his plan and saw Jirou mull it over before nodding to herself, seemingly satisfied with what he'd cooked up.
"Sounds like it'll work so I don't have anything against it."
Just as they were done formulating the plan All Might's voice blared out from the speakers hidden all over Ground Beta.
"The final Battle Trial starts… NOW!" His voice was so loud that Jirou had to cover her ears at the sudden increase in volume. "Oh, I- I apologize Young Jirou." All Might added in a much more reserved manner.
The petite girl flashed a brief thumbs up towards the nearest visible camera before they decided to not waste time and entered the building.
Izuku and his teammate were moving through the building at a decent pace, stopping every now and then so that Jirou could plug her jacks into the walls and try to locate their opponents. It wasn't hard to distinguish Kirishima from Ashido as the latter stayed mostly around the same area and was casually lounging in what they believed to be the bomb room whilst the former was stomping his way down the stairs, his heavy footsteps impossible to miss.
Still, even though they knew vaguely where the other two were, they made sure not to become reckless as that could quickly spiral out of control.
"I think we can just evade Kirishima completely and just go for the bomb." Jirou suggested a change in their plan when she noticed that Kirishima had finally descended to the floor they were on but on the other side of the building.
"I don't like the idea of getting pincered by them later on if he turns around and we are both too busy to notice him approaching." Izuku quickly shot the plan down though Jirou didn't seem to have anything against it, his arguments were pretty valid.
"So we set up an ambush and wait for him?" Jirou guessed.
"That's right. It's not very honorable but it'll give us a crucial advantage at the start." Izuku agreed and they went to search for the perfect spot to plan their sneak attack from.
"Oh, so you can do bad things but I can't?" The daemon sneered at Izuku from the case on his back. "Just let me at him and he'll be done for in a minute or two." The daemon pressed after not getting a response.
"I know what you're capable of and I'm not going to let you anywhere near my friends." Izuku stated firmly, his brow furrowing on the outside.
"Scared of what they might think once they get to see the real you? Can't really blame you though you have my word that I'll always be there for you." This time the link went silent for good after Izuku refused to humor the daemon any longer.
Izuku unsheathed his sword as the characteristic sound would surely betray them if he was to do it just as he was stepping in to strike and awaited in one of the empty rooms along a long, vaguely wide corridor. Jirou was crouched right next to him, her jacks plugged into the wall and completely focused on tracking Kirishima's steps.
He was definitely heading towards them, checking all of the rooms as he went, and he eventually made his way up to the point where Izuku felt comfortable making his move.
With one powerful step and his sword suddenly engulfed by the golden glow Izuku appeared right in front of Kirishima and swung his sword all the way around, building up momentum to further augment the strength of the impact. Izuku was however conscious enough to let the golden glow die out right before the blade made contact with Kirishima to avoid causing severe injuries to his classmate. He may have underestimated just how durable Kirishima's quirk made him as the redhead was easily able to block the slash by hardening the right side of his body.
"There you are!" He exclaimed in excitement before winding his left arm backwards, intending to throw down with the greenette right there and then.
Izuku however decided to back up a little and put some space between them as the size of his sword made it hard to use whilst in striking distance. The corridor was just wide enough for Izuku to swing his sword without having to use any awkward grips, although overhead attacks were completely out of the question due to the low ceiling.
They exchanged a couple of strikes, all of them blocked, deflected or otherwise nullified, to test each other's defenses and try to find or make an opening.
Izuku was eventually able to backstep just enough for Kirishima to ovestep with his next punch which left him wide open for an attack. Izuku grabbed the redhead by the arm and pulled him towards himself, making him stumble and take a couple of quick steps just to remain upright which ultimately resulted in them reversing their positions with Izuku's back towards the room that Jirou was still taking shelter in.
"Go find the bomb! I'll finish this and join you later!" Izuku yelled to the girl who didn't question the order and ran out of the room, heading straight for the staircase.
"Mina, Jirou is heading up to the bomb!" Kirishima shouted into his earpiece though Izuku was far too far away to hear a potential reply. "It's just you and me now!" Kirishima exclaimed with a wide grin on his face as he charged forward once again.
"Oh if only he knew…" The daemon joked from inside the case.
Kirishima came in with a barrage of punches that left Izuku no time to stage his own offensive. Being on the defense though left him no other choice but to wait for an opening like he did the last time. He found his chance when Kirishima decided to go for an easily predictable right hook.
Izuku dashed right into his face and raised one of his armored legs up to his chest before shoving the redhead away, following it with an upward slash of his sword that scraped off of Kirishima's hardened body without doing any damage. It did however force him to step back once again, only this time Izuku wasn't content with putting distance between them and instead chose to charge his opponent whilst he was still recovering.
Izuku knew however that time was not on their side by any means and that they've already wasted quite a lot of it with their stealthy approach so he decided to do something risky and try to go for the capture.
He marked another swing with his sword but at the last second loosened up his grip on the handle which made the blade slip out of his hands and veer off the path that Kirishima was prepared for. This forced the redhead to reorient his body in order to prepare to block the blade which unfortunately left him wide open for Izuku's next move.
The sword bounced off of Kirishima's hardened skin just as harmlessly as before, even though a man as big and muscular as Izuku swinging around quite the big sword meant that every strike had a lot of force behind it, and was about to go on the counter-offensive now that his opponent was disarmed but quickly found himself with the unmistakable white capture tape around his wrists.
"Young Kirishima has been captured!" All Might's announcements blared through the radio, signaling that their bout had come to an end.
"Oh dang it!" Kirishima exclaimed in disappointment, though there was nothing but excitement on his features. "This was fun Midobro! The way you just swung that big thing like it was nothing was super manly! I'd love to spar with you in the future!" The redhead praised Izuku as he went to collect his discarded weapon.
"Thank you Kirishima. I too enjoyed our fight and I'll for sure take you up on your offer." Izuku replied as he sheathed his sword once again before heading after Jirou. "Now if you'll excuse me I have to join my teammate!" He yelled out as he vanished around the corner.
"So manly!" Kirishima exclaimed as he sat down and waited for the exercise to end.
Izuku was sadly unable to make it to the bomb room in time and Ashido did an excellent job at preventing Jirou from even getting close to the objective itself.
Although, all in all, despite the unfortunate defeat Izuku had to say that this combat exercise was quite fun and also an excellent introduction into what foundational hero studies is all about. He also had to admit that he was already looking forward to the next exercise!
Before they were free to change back into their school uniforms however they needed to return to the observation room to get chewed out by Yaoyorozu who had taken over as the de facto teacher around the time of the fourth Battle Trial and offered a lot of insight into each other's shortcomings. She was kind of strict but she was still nowhere near Aizawa's level and most of her advice was actually pretty viable so no one got angry over it. Maybe Bakugo, but they assumed that him being angry had nothing to do with Yaoyorozu being Yaoyorozu and everything to do with him being him.
Midoriya doesn't win the first combat exericse, who could've seen it coming? Not me. I literally thought to myself - how about we put another spin on this bitch and make him lose? And that's what happened!
Now, I'm sure I had something to talk about here but I can't be bothered to try and remember what that was supposed to be so I'mma skiddadle!
Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!